Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in South Petherton and Lambrook:

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While any conveyancing solicitor can theoretically deal with your leasehold conveyancing in South Petherton and Lambrook, your mortgage provider may not be willing to work with them if the firm are not on their list of approved solicitors for conveyancing

Top Five Questions relating to South Petherton and Lambrook leasehold conveyancing

Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in South Petherton and Lambrook. Before I get started I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and almost all are in South Petherton and Lambrook - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

I have just started marketing my garden flat in South Petherton and Lambrook.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a yearly maintenance charge invoice – Do I pay up?

The sensible thing to do is discharge the invoice as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I am employed by a long established estate agency in South Petherton and Lambrook where we see a few flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local South Petherton and Lambrook conveyancing firms. Can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in South Petherton and Lambrook from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

  • Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in South Petherton and Lambrook can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
  • The majority landlords or managing agents in South Petherton and Lambrook levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in South Petherton and Lambrook.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? South Petherton and Lambrook leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord consenting to such changes. Where you dont have the paperwork to hand do not contact the landlord without contacting your solicitor first.
  • If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share certificate. Organising a re-issued share certificate can be a time consuming process and frustrates many a South Petherton and Lambrook conveyancing deal. If a reissued share certificate is required, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible.

    • What are the frequently found problems that you witness in leases for South Petherton and Lambrook properties?

    There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in South Petherton and Lambrook. Most leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain provisions are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

    • A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the building
    • A duty to insure the building
    • Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
    • Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

    You could have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Santander, Chelsea Building Society, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

    Leasehold Conveyancing in South Petherton and Lambrook - Examples of Queries before Purchasing

      The prefered form of lease arrangement is where the freehold interest is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this scenario the lessees enjoy control and although a managing agent is frequently employed where it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent employed by the leaseholders. Plenty South Petherton and Lambrook leasehold apartments will incur a service charge for maintenance of the block levied on behalf of the landlord. If you purchase the apartment you will have to meet this liability, normally in instalments throughout the year. This could be anything from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built blocks. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay yearly, this is usually not a exorbitant sum, say approximately £25-£75 but you should to check as occasionally it can be many hundreds of pounds. You should be aware if it is no more than eighty years it will affect the value of the apartment. It is worth checking with your mortgage company that they are content with remaining years on the lease. A short lease means that you will almost definitely have to extend the lease at some point and you need to have some idea of how much this would cost. For most South Petherton and Lambrooklease extensions you would need to own the property for two years before you are entitled to exercise a lease extension.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in South Petherton and Lambrook